Reflections
by Sugary Snicket
Summary: It is five years after the end of ASOUE, and Klaus is awake one night reflecting on his life. Implied Klauslet sibling relationship, implied Klausidora and Quiglet, oneshot. A/U in the vein of 'Shattered'.


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_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the product references in this story. I also don't own Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Olaf, The Incredibly deadly Viper, or anyone else that you don't own.**_

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Reflections 

_Five years ago, it had happened. He had been twelve at the time; his sisters had been 14 and 1 respectively. They had been standing stock still in the doorway, staring up in fear at Stephano – or Count Olaf, more accurately – as the taxi had driven off._

_Why?_ Was all Klaus could think as he stared at the ceiling. _Why didn't I do something?_

He shifted onto his side, glancing at the nightstand that held his glasses. He still remembered, even though he was now seventeen. It still haunted his dreams. Olaf was long gone, true, but he still remembered him vividly, even the scowl he had given the siblings as he was dragged into the police car.

"_Don't think you're so safe," he had said. "One day when you least expect it, I'll –_

_His sentence had been cut off by the sound of police sirens._

Klaus took his glasses off the nightstand, cleaned them, and put them on. He was too awake to sleep now. Too scared to close his eyes and try to think back to when his parents had cared for them. It had been so long ago, but he still remembered. Like the time his older sister had played charades and he had not been able to figure out that she was acting out a scene from _Back to the Future._

He wished he could go back. He wished he could turn back time and stop all the fires, all the treachery, all of the lies and deaths. He knew that this could not be, not in this century, anyway. It was a scientific impossibility.

He walked to the window and opened it. When Violet had turned eighteen, she had driven him and Sunny to the bank, where Mr. Poe gave them the money she was set to inherit. Now, as he glanced out at the eerie blueness of the sun setting over the Hinterlands, he remembered his snake-loving Uncle Montgomery. What was it that he had said? A warning? A final goodbye?

"_But I never had that lamp anywhere near the window! It was in my alcove!"_

"_Still, you need to be careful with things that heavy. Someone could get hurt."_

"_But-_

"_It's not polite to interrupt, Klaus. Now please go put the lamp back in a safe place."_

He now resented having bickered with his Uncle for a last conversation. He needed to step outside; to clear his mind and get some fresh air.

Carefully stepping onto the overhanging terrace near his window, he clambered onto the rooftop and, treading carefully to avoid falling, walked over to the window next to him that lead into Sunny's room. "Don't look down," he muttered to himself. "Do NOT look….."

He looked down. The ground was ten feet below him, and a fall from that height would seriously injure, if not kill. Klaus anxiously backed away from the edge. He had fallen from a higher height than this before, and he wasn't particularly interested in doing so again.

_The darkness of the elevator shaft was penetrating; the whoosh of the cold air around them was drowned out only by their terrified screams as they continued their decent._

He was beginning to feel the dizzy and unpleasant sensation of vertigo. He tripped and fell back, now looking up at the starry sky. His nemesis had caused everything to happen to them; all of the unfortunate events in their lives ultimately lead back to him. It hadn't been quite so long ago when they had been in his care.

"_We made Puttanesca, not roast beef!"_

_There had been a sickening smack as Klaus was thrown backwards by the impact._

Klaus touched his face as if he still bore a mark from Olaf's cruel behavior, but that had been the least of their worries. He still remembered Violet's brilliant plan. The way she had signed with her left hand instead of her dominant right hand. They had prevailed that time.

A sudden urgent hissing sound from inside Sunny's bedroom startled Klaus out of his thoughts. The Incredibly Deadly Viper was hungry again. Either that, or it was as restless as Klaus was. He climbed into Sunny's bedroom and walked quietly up to the small cooler that held several coconut cakes for the huge snake as well as several of Sunny's favorite foods. He tossed a cupcake to the Viper and patted its scaly head. The snake flicked the cage door open and slithered up to Klaus, wrapping itself around him affectionately. Klaus smiled and disentangled himself, recalling why the Viper had been dubbed "Incredibly Deadly."

"_It's a misnomer," Monty had said. "I only called it that so I could prank those other 'serious' scientists. The Incredibly Deadly Viper is completely harmless!"_

_Sunny had demonstrated this by giving the massive snake a huge, friendly hug._

"Friendship means being there for each other," Klaus muttered to himself, remembering how brave Isadora and Duncan had been.

"_We aren't going to sit by and let you run laps to your doom. That's what friendship is all about."_

Klaus wondered if he would ever see them again. "Friendship is such a mysterious thing," he whispered to himself. He missed Duncan. But he missed Isadora more. She was his best friend; possibly more than that.

"_I'm a poet," she had said. Klaus had simply smiled at her. She was so... Perfect._

"_That's amazing," he had said. "I've read poetry before, but I've never met a poet."_

"_Oh, so you research?" Isadora asked._

"_Yeah. It's just my thing, I guess."_

"_That's really neat."_

He sighed, wondering where in the world she was now and what she was doing, and then he remembered her brother, Quigley, whom was about Violet's age now and realized that Violet was to be wedded tomorrow afternoon. It was perfectly obvious that she had been anxious and stressing last-minute details, and he wondered if Quigley felt the same.

"_I'm a cartographer," he said. "I explore places and make maps of them."_

He of course understood Violet's anxiousness. It was not only because she was making one of the biggest choices of her life, but it had only been five years from this date that Olaf had attempted to bond Violet and himself in marriage. Klaus shuddered, thankful that it hadn't worked.

He gave the Viper a final goodbye and walked down the hall towards Violet's room. He pushed open the door to find Violet wide awake, looking out the window wistfully and fiddling with her bracelet. "Violet?" Klaus called. Violet turned and smiled when she saw him.

"Hi Klaus," she said. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"No," Klaus said. "I figured if I can't sleep, and you can't sleep, then we might as well not sleep together."

Silence.

"So, are you excited about tomorrow?"

"A bit. Nervous is more accurate. Things have been different ever since the Olaf incident."

Klaus smiled. "Is that what you're calling it now?"

"Hey, it needed a name."

Another silence.

"Olaf's gone, Vi. He's rotting in jail along with his evil girlfriend, and his crew is on public service."

"You're right of course. He's probably miserable, but better miserable than dead I figure. I just didn't have the heart to punish him in that way."

"You've always been sort of a softie."

Violet smiled. "I know. I can't believe we survived it."

"Me, neither. It's because we're strong."

There was a long pause.

"Violet?"

"Yes, Klaus?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Klaus."

"You aren't thinking about having kids, are you?"

"No, not yet. You and Sunny are more than enough."

Both laughed.

"Remember that time you made toast for breakfast?"

"And I burnt it?"

"You make Kraft Mac and cheese better than anyone I know."

"Thanks."

Both grinned. A sudden sound like the dropping of a heavy piece of metal startled Klaus slightly. Violet fingered her bracelet, emblazoned with the VFD insignia.

"Violet?"

"Yes, Klaus?"

"What was that noise?"

Violet smiled secretively and replied "Nothing." Klaus noticed the logo on her bracelet and smiled back.

"If nothing is out there," he asked, "then what was that noise?"

SoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo….. Wasn't it great? Pleeeease review, please.


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